Review: Red Ginger in Coral Springs

September 15, 2011|By Danny Sanchez, Sun Sentinel

Overall impression: Keep Red Ginger on your list of go-to restaurants because of its ability to please almost everyone. You'll find a nice medley of cuisines, including tasty Chinese-American offerings that compete well with the popular P.F. Chang's chain, expert sushi with eye candy presentations and even a few Thai dishes. You'll also find that most dishes don't murder your mouth with salt, as is too often typical of Chinese-American fare. Scenesters will find a nice, trendy looking bar area where they can mingle, share a sushi roll and choose from a nice list of martinis and sakes.

Starters: A hot cup of wonton soup ($2.50) with thickly stuffed wontons was a nice way to start, not too salty yet flavorful. Steamed shrimp dumplings ($4) were also nicely subtle, paired with a slightly sweet soy sauce ($.50) that makes you quickly forget these shrimp weren't fried. Fried soft shell crab ($7) is on the smaller side of the appetizers but had a delightfully flaky crunch. Suck up the 50 cents and ask for the shrimp dumpling sauce instead, which we enjoyed more than the ponzu dipping sauce that's paired with the crab. Grilled BBQ ribs ($6) were too dry, which is a shame since we enjoyed the pineapple juice-based sauce. Dynamite salad ($9), with spring greens, cucumber, scallions and raw salmon topped with copious amounts of masago wasabi mayo had sweetness to it that went well with the spicy mayo.

Entree excellence: We started with a few pieces of chutoro ($7 for two), bites of raw fatty tuna on a puff of rice that were simple, delicious and well worth the price. Just as you think you've fully undressed the flavors in the eye-pleasing Sexy Tuna roll ($12), it surprises with a bit of spice. Don't feel self-conscious chomping an entire slice of the enormous Red Ginger roll ($14), with tuna, salmon, white fish, crab, avocado, cucumber and a little glob of cream cheese. This intricate roll slips you into a tantric flavor meditation. Garlic shrimp seared in sweet soy sauce with broccoli, mushroom and carrots ($13) didn't offend, but we found it too subtle for a stir fry of this sort. The same goes for typically bold-tasting Mongolian beef ($13). On the other hand, our table attacked Red Ginger's General's Chicken ($13), which was perfectly crunchy without being overdone and had powerful sweet and spicy flavors.

Sweet!: We finished off the night with a large portion of crunchy, delicious tempura cheesecake ($6.50) thoughtfully sliced into four shareable slices and served with three individual scoops of vanilla ice cream. Also available are chocolate cake ($7.50), regular ice cream ($4) and Japanese mochi— the sweet rice confection filled with red bean, green tea or strawberry ice cream ($6.50). We would have liked to have a few more non-ice cream options.

Liquid assets: Don't miss the five sakes, both hot and cold, as well as a martini-centric list of 15 cocktails.

Service: Courteous and mostly prompt.

Insider tip: Women drink free at the bar 8-9 p.m. Wednesdays with a food purchase. For a more intimate setting, ask for one of the two high-walled circular booths in the back.